Colorado State University Mountain Campus (also referred to as CSU Mountain Campus and the Mountain Campus), formerly Pingree Park, is a satellite campus of the Fort Collins, Colorado-based Colorado State University. CSU Mountain Campus is situated in Pingree Valley in the Mummy Range at approximately from the city of Fort Collins, Colorado.
During the summer it is home to a variety of conferences from around the country ranging from CSU students enrolled in Natural Resource and Forestry classes to corporate groups using its ropes course and finally Elderhostel groups organized through the Pingree office. The geographic area is still known as "Pingree Park." CSU renamed the park around controversial accusations of George Pingree being involved in the Sand Creek Massacre.
Programs
Challenge Ropes Course
A popular program at CSU Mountain Campus is the Challenge Ropes Course. Many groups use the facilities, including students from both Colorado State University and Poudre School District. Many recreational and corporate groups include a stop at the Ropes Course for use in team building exercises. The course consists of several low and high elements built in 1989, with a large climbing wall and adjoining "Giant Swing" built in 2005. There are also multiple walk wires. The course was damaged severely in the Hourglass Fire of 1994, but was rebuilt in the following years.
Academics
Since 1915, CSU Mountain Campus has hosted summer sessions for students. Students stay in four-person cabins heated by wood-burning stoves. NR-220 is a required four-week field camp for undergraduate students in the College of Natural Resources. The Forestry program, F-230, is a one-week required program for Forestry majors.
Road Scholar Programs
Throughout the summer, various Road Scholar groups visit Pingree Park. Trips began in 1983 and now include intergenerational, watercolor, and musical programs, as well as intensive hiking trips.
Conferences
Six-bedroom conference cabins were constructed in 1995 after the old structures burnt in the 1994 fire. They can house various private organizations that go to Pingree Park for retreats, workshops and meetings.
The Five Summits
Five mountains among the mummy range hold particular attention to the students and staff of the Mountain Campus. It is often a goal to hike all of the summits in one season and there is even a trip that tackles them all in 24 hours. These summits are:
Signal Mountain -
Stormy Peaks -
Fall Mountain -
Comanche Peak -
Hagues Peak -
History
The land comprising CSU Mountain Campus has been home to many different communities during its history before becoming the campus that it is today.
Early history
The original inhabitants of CSU Mountain Campus were Native Americans from the Arapaho, Mountain Ute and Cherokee tribes. Fur trappers arrived in the 1830s followed by gold prospectors in the 1850s.
George W. Pingree
In 1867 George W. Pingree traveled up the South Fork of the Poudre River and into the park looking for trees to make suitable railroad ties for the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1868, Pingree established a logging camp in the valley that now bears his name.
1890 fire
In 1890, a forest fire engulfed most of the area around the park destroying the Ponderosa pine forest and resulting in the proliferation of Lodgepole pine and Aspen (the current dominant species in the park). Remnants of the original forest can be found along the ridge south of the Pingree Valley.
Ramsey and Koenig era
In 1897, two brothers, Hugh and Charles Ramsey, homesteaded the present southern portion of the campus. The homesteads were officially deeded in 1903. The Ramsey's made a living ranching and operating a sawmill. In 1912, Hugh Ramsey hired Frank Koenig. Koenig spent the winter with the Ramsey family and helped build a road over Pennock Pass. In 1913, Ramsey, Koenig, and a helper Tom Bennett built a road to Twin Lakes. Frank Koenig and Hazel Ramsey were married that year. Hugh Ramsey moved to the upper ranch and sold to Frank Koenig most of the property except for which he gave to Hazel as a wedding present.
